2 new Chick-fil-As in Kettering, Troy to offer free meals for a year

Customers camp out last month outside a new Chick-fil-A in Wisconsin to be among the first 100 in line and get free Chick-fil-A for a year. Two new Chick-fil-A restaurants in Troy and Kettering will open Thursday, Jan. 19. SUBMITTED

Related

The Chick-fil-A in the Town & Country Shopping Center in Kettering, which is scheduled to open Jan. 19 along with another new Chick-fil-A in Troy. MARK FISHER/STAFF

By
Mark Fisher

Staff Writer

Both the Chick-fil-A at the Town & Country Shopping Center in Kettering and on West Main Street near Meijer in Troy will offer the restaurant chain’s signature “First 100” promotion starting at 6 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18. Both restaurants will then open to the public at 6 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 19.

Chick-fil-A’s “First 100” promotion, launched 13 years ago to mark each restaurant opening, has given away nearly $31 million in free food through 2016.

Here’s how it works:

• Participants can begin lining up 24 hours in advance, at 6 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, at each restaurant. Only adults residing in specific zip codes within approximately 25 miles of the restaurant are eligible for the giveaway, and they must offer identification to prove their residence.

• A digital gift card loaded with a one-year supply of free Chick-fil-A Meals — 52 meals consisting of a Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich, medium waffle fries and a medium beverage — will be given to each of the first 100 eligible adults, ages 18 and older with identification, in line when the doors open at 6 a.m. Thursday.

• If more than 100 people are on site when the line officially forms Wednesday morning, then all 100 spots will be determined by a drawing held that morning — and those selected still need to camp out for 24 hours to secure their spot, Chick-fil-A officials said.

Chick-fil-A also invites First 100 guests as well as restaurant customers to bring in new gently used childrens’ books as part of a book drive Wednesday and Thursday. Those collected at the Kettering location will be donated to Kettering Backpack Program, while books collected in Troy will benefit Free to Read in the Bethany Center in Piqua. The donated books at each restaurant will be placed in a nearly “Book House” that will serve as a free library exchange, Chick-fil-A officials said.

The 4,988-square-foot Kettering restaurant at East Stroop and Shroyer roads will seat 124. It will employ perhaps as many as 100, according to franchise owner Matt Eller. Eller grew up with Chick-fil-A: his father has operated one of the chain’s restaurants in Greensboro, N.C., for more than 23 years.

The 4,137-square-foot Troy restaurant is located at 1910 W. Main St. (Ohio 41) at Experimental Farm/South Stanfield Road. It will seat 106 and will employ 80 to 90, a Chick-fil-A spokeswoman last month. The Troy restaurant’s franchisee is Doug Knostman, a Troy native and graduate of Troy High School.

The Chick-fil-A restaurant chain currently operates a half-dozen locations in the Dayton region, including a restaurant that opened in 2015 in Cornerstone of Centerville. Another location on Miamisburg-Centerville Road (Ohio 725) in Washington Twp. completed a $1 million makeover in 2016.

Like other Chick-fil-A restaurants, the two new locations will offer a full-service menu, including breakfast until 10:30 a.m., and will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday, closed on Sundays.